The Mission
by killyourdarlings
Summary: Dreams show us the future through the past. When an unknown evil haunts both Releena and Duo's dreams, an age-old legend returns for revenge. ~Chapter 1 teaser added: 3.7.02~ ::no, Releena and Duo are not paired together in this fic. That's just wrong!::
1. Dreams in the Night

The Mission: Prologue  
  
By Akira Kinmoto  
  
Releena tossed and turned in her bed. Sleep was a luxury she had been missing the past few nights. A reoccurring dream, no, A reoccurring nightmare kept invading her normally peaceful nights. The same nightmare every night…. It had to mean something, but she had no idea what. And if she didn't figure it out soon, she might go insane from not knowing.  
  
"Where am I" Releena said, surprised at the sound of her own voice. She was standing outside of a church, light pouring out of the windows. If she had a little more composure, she would of thought the Church quite beautiful, with it's huge bell tower and stained glass windows. Not knowing why, she walked up to the heavy, wooden doors and pulled them open.  
  
The room was bathed in ethereal golden candlelight. The pews were filled with people all looking at the front of the Church. As Releena walked towards the front she wondered why no noticed her. At the front of the Church Releena stood beside to a Priest and a little girl dressed in long white robes. She was only about 5 or 6, so young. The Priest motioned for the little girl to sit under the large cross at the very front of the church. Releena sat down next to her, so maybe she could find at least a clue as to what was going on.  
  
"Oh Lord, Guide me from evil so I may walk in your light." The girl's voice was so innocent. From out of the corner of her eye, Releena saw a person walk in, but no footfall was heard. No one in the Church seemed to notice. A very grim looking man, he acted anxious, like he was waiting for something…  
  
"So my heart will be pure, My soul free from sin." The girl continued. The man made a slight wave of his hand in the direction of the doorway, which Releena had left open. She looked at the door, terrified of what she saw.  
  
"Oh my God…" Releena trailed off. A person, dressed in black, holding a crossbow, took aim at the praying child.  
  
"May I follow close by you, your hand in mine." The girl continued, unknowing of the danger that rested behind her. Releena's heart raced as the archer readied his bow.  
  
"Get out of here!" She yelled at the little girl. "You're going to get killed!" Releena reached out to grab the girl's arm and went straight through her. "What?!" Releena cried, confusion invading her heart.  
  
"So I may serve you," The girl said. The archer shot the arrow. "No!" Releena screamed.  
  
"Until that day." The little girl finished her prayer just as the  
  
arrow struck her in the back. Chaos hit the church. Everyone ran away, leaving the little girl to die.  
  
"No… No.." Releena trailed off. The little girl's white robes were stained red with blood. Her green eyes seemed to glitter and become glassy. Releena's eyes were torn away from the child to look around frantically for her killer but he was nowhere in sight.  
  
"You can't die." Releena said through tears of grief. The little girl breathed her last breath alone and abandoned under the cross.  
  
"No!" Releena yelled, flinging herself into a sitting position. "What happened?" She said, wiping the cold sweat off her forehead. She was back in her bed at the Cinq Kingdom.  
  
"It was just a dream," She told herself, shakily walking to the bathroom. "That's all.. Just a crazy dream." She opened her bathroom mirror to reveal a medicine chest and grabbed a glass from it.  
  
"Probably just from staying up too late." Releena said, filling her glass with water. She took a long drink. Setting the glass down, she shut the medicine chest.  
  
"Help me." A young girl's voice cried out.  
  
"What?!" Releena was terrified by the young girl's reflection in the mirror. " You're the girl from my dream…" Releena trailed off.  
  
"Hurry, before it's too late!" The girl's voice was filled with urgency. Releena, suddenly realizing that if the girl had a reflection in the mirror, then she should be behind her. Turning around to face the girl, she gasped. Nothing was there.  
  
Everyone at the Winner Estate was sleeping soundly, well, all except for a long, brown haired boy named Duo Maxwell. Like Releena, his sleep was also interrupted by a reoccurring dream. Though, his nightmare was slightly different…  
  
"Huh?" A very confused Duo said. His surroundings were quite different then his peaceful room at the Winner Estate. It looked more like a hangar, it was full of Gundams. As he scanned the walls he saw.. No wait, that couldn't happen. There isn't two Duo Maxwell's…  
  
"No way…" Duo trailed off. In the middle of the hanger stood a group of boys known to him as Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei and.. himself?  
  
Yes, the five Gundam pilots stood in a circle, apparently waiting for something. Duo was astounded. Dream Wufei tapped his foot impatiently.  
  
"If this woman is going to attack, she had better do it soon!"  
  
"Maybe she won't show up." Dream Quatre said with his usual, optimistic tone.  
  
"She's targeted every Gundam Plant in this area, no doubt she'll come here." Dream Heero said in his usual, monotone voice. Dream Quatre's hopeful smile faded from his face. An unbearable silence washed over them, no one breathed. It was like all the life was sucked out of the hangar. She was here.  
  
"What is going on here?" Duo's mind was racing. "Who is She?" This was becoming a bit too much for him to handle. Out of nowhere, the silence was broken. Broken by the sound of footsteps walking toward them. All eyes were focused on the point where the noise was coming from. The nameless footsteps suddenly emerged into the light. A girl, only about 15 or 16, stood there, her blonde hair flowing down her back. Her bright green eyes flashed with a wicked glare.  
  
"Hmm.. Is this the best your world can come up with?" Her voice was like ice. "I've destroyed whole armies of your earth's best fighters and they have the nerve to send five mortal boys up against me? Ha!" "Why are you here?" Dream Trowa voice echoed through the hangar.  
  
"Foolish mortals!" Her voice took on a deep, more forcing tone. "Your world will soon come to an end!"  
  
"Why?!" Dream Quatre burst out, unable to take this girl's taunting.  
  
"Your world will end because of the sins you have committed!" Her hellish smirk shifted into an angry scowl.  
  
"What sins?!" Dream Wufei shouted angrily.  
  
"You know full well what sins you have committed.." Her voice lowered to a wicked whisper. "And you'll be the first to die for them." An orange ball of energy appeared in her hand. She laughed evilly, her eyes sparkling with hate. The ball of energy flew at the pilots.  
  
"No!" Duo screamed, but it was too late. His friends and himself were just blown away. He fell to his hands and knees, fighting back tears. He looked up and met his killers gaze. She was laughing.  
  
"NO!" Duo yelled. He realized that he was back in his bed at the Winner Estate.  
  
"What happened?" He thought. Duo looked out his open balcony window at all the stars. The same unbearable silence from his dream washed over him as the night wind ruffled his curtains. His pulse quickened.  
  
"What is going on here?" He asked the stars. Something was coming. He could feel it. 


	2. Livid Crimson; Heavens Black

The Mission~Chapter One

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Livid Crimson; Heavens Black

As the first rays of light began to spread into the black heavens, one girl stood awake by her window, watching, but not truly seeing the beauty before her eyes. Time crept slowly by as Dawn banished Night and the girl's fears from the world. Only when the sun had fully risen over the horizon did she dare venture into the depths of her room, flicking every light switch and lamp on as she went. Her face was ashen, strangely contorted and her cerulean eyes livid with suppressed fear. After making an inspection of her room she turned to the mahogany doorway of her bathroom. The door was shut and looming before her as the girl drew closer to it - her pulse quickened. Standing before the door, the girl outstretched her hand for the china knob. Mindlessly she focused on it but intensity only contorted her face further. Her fingertips just barely grazed the white knob-

"Miss Releena?" Instantly her hand pulled away from the knob like it had been burned. The stupor of fear had begun to fade and an unknown guilt took root in her heart as she turned from the knob.

"Yes?" Releena replied masking quite well the fear in her voice. The door opened to reveal an older man dressed in butler attire.

"I can't believe you're up." He said with a small smile. "Mornings normally aren't you're taste. Anyway, since you're up so early I can make you a wonderful old-fashioned breakfast. How's pancakes and eggs sound?"

"Just perfect, Pagen." Releena forced a smile to her lips. 

"Great! I'll be done cooking in about forty-five minutes so hurry and get ready." 

"Alright, Pagen. I will." And with one last smile, Pagen left the room shutting the door behind him. Only when his steps faded from her hearing did Releena relax. Sinking to her knees on the white plush carpeting, she wondered why she felt so guilty. Unwillingly, her eyes turned to the china knob. Unwillingly, her pulse again began to quicken. Unwillingly, she rose and walked from the room, feeling a pair of green eyes boring into her soul. 

*~*~*~*

Church bells rang clear in the crisp morning as five boys walked onto Saint Gabriel High School's campus. Many other students were buzzing about and their voices all seemed to melt into music, falling in time with the echoing bells of morning. These boys went unnoticed, strangely enough, as they walked through the thick crowds and into the school. Unfortunately, the crowds they tried to avoid inside the school decided they would come to them as the church bells finished ringing. The din from outside came inside, rising gradually from dull whispers to an echoing current of sound. Duo noticed all of this as he and four others walked to their lockers. His friends seemed unusually happy to him today, perhaps due to the fact that depression had struck him late last night and had not relented. His normally sunny disposition became languid, lethargic. He felt blank and empty. Too empty to even feel anger about his friends not noticing his plight.

"We have a math test first period, I think." Quatre replied.

"It's a good thing I studied last night then." Trowa commented.

"Yeah, me too," Wufei said, "And we had better get to class on time or Miss Kinomoto will have our heads."

"You're right about that." Quatre replied as they began to walk down the hall. After about ten paces Heero said,

"Where's Duo?"

"Huh?" Quatre questioned, he and the others stopping in the middle of the crowded hallway. Duo was leaning against his locker, seemingly deep in thought.

"There he is, over by his locker," Wufei said with an annoyed edge to his voice, "Hey Duo! Get over here!" Duo slowly closed his eyes, his long black lashes staining his overly pale face. Slowly they opened again and he walked through the crowd and joined the others. After a few wisecracks from Wufei about Duo being ditzy, they continued their passage down the hall.

*~*~*~*

Noise, no matter how loud it is, has a distinct hum to it. Almost a melodic quality, slightly intoxicating if you listen long enough. Or at least Releena thought so. 

'All this listening and no talking. Boy, I must be going insane.' She thought her mind still in harmony with the buzzing around her. 

'I wonder what everyone is talking about.' She looked around Miss Kinomoto's math class, which had yet to officially begin, seeing all the different people. Of course she knew them all by name, face and reputation but, as for persona, she knew nothing. Absently she began to fantasize about whom they really were behind the façade that they fronted to the world. As a group of five boys entered the class, her fantasy took a very large turn. Her eyes slowly moved from the black ponytail to the blonde, then to the brown unibang and the chestnut braid. Finally she laid eyes on the tousled, slightly spiked brown. Heero. 

'I wonder who you are, Heero. Maybe you're _really_ a sensitive gentleman who enjoys candlelit dinners and listening to Elton John in the firelight. Yeah, and I'm a poor, middle-class single mom working for Subway-' Releena would have continued her rant but a seemingly disembodied voice echoed through her head.

'_But what's so funny about that?_' For some strange reason, Releena wasn't troubled by this voice in her head and replied,

'Well, because I could never be that. It's irony, you see.'

'_Irony, huh? It must be very ironic for the poor, middle-class single mom working at Subway, barely making enough money to put food on the table for her kids. Very ironic, indeed._'

'Look, I don't have to defend myself to you! Life's tough! Get over it!'

'_You don't need to defend yourself to me. Rather, tell that to the single mom the next time you see her.' _

And then, the voice was gone. Releena, gathering her bearings, realized that her eyes were very unfocused. She was still staring at the spot where Heero had stood in the doorway of the math room. Confusion began to leap into Releena's throat. She frantically scanned the classroom. The students were silent or Releena couldn't hear them. Miss Kinomoto was at the front of the classroom lecturing, her mouth was moving, but no sound came to Releena's ears. Slowly shifting her gaze around the entire room, she saw more mouths moving but no sound came to her ears. Releena's eyes finally returned to the front of the classroom, the digital clock on Miss Kinomoto's desk drawing her attention. As Releena stared at them, the black numbers seemed to burn from the face of the clock. Her eyes too felt the burning, tears welling up to quell the pain. But to no avail, the black burning of the numbers invaded her sight even as her eyes squeezed shut. The pain finally blinding her, she rose madly from her seat, tripping and falling onto the soft crimson carpeting. 

*~*~*~*

"Why do I even bother?" Duo sighed staring down at his math book. The little numbers and words become no more than squiggly lines as he squinted at them. 

'It's no use..' he thought, no longer listening to Miss Kinomoto drone on about quadratic equations or whatever they were. His began a vague scan of the room. He could see everyone from his vantage point at the far back corner of the room. As he looked over into the middle row at the desk furthest from him, he noticed something peculiar. He saw Releena staring into space. This shouldn't have been very peculiar to Duo – he was used to staring into space on a daily basis. If it hadn't been for the fact that Releena's lips were moving subtly, as if she were murmuring. She would pause for a few moments after, as if she was hearing a reply to her silent musings then being again. Duo stared transfixed at her for an eternity it seemed until she blinked and started looking around. A blanket of silence had covered the room. Releena's eyes were filled with panic as the clock on Miss Kinomoto's desk caught her gaze. Salt tears began to run down her face as she squeezed her eyes shut in pain. Duo rose and walked towards her but the short distance from his desk to hers somehow became a long distance. His walk became a run but he never got any closer to Releena. The room became black and all else faded away but the crimson carpeting and Releena. Releena screamed out in pain as she blindly rose from her chair, tripped and fell onto the carpeting.

"Releena!" Duo cried out, his voice reverberating around him. The crimson carpeting suddenly became like an ocean of blood and Duo fell into the currents, his strength failing him as the waves stained him red. He madly attempted to stay above water but he could not. Duo cried out in fury one last time before the currents forced him under the water, never to return to the surface again.

*~*~*~*

AN: _Sorry this is so short! I have suffered from writer's block for several weeks now and am finally getting over it! YAY! Anywho, please review. I don't care if you nit-pick my story to high heaven or horrible hell ::grin::, just tell me what you think._

Sayonara for now –Seikei Hyoutan _cobaltempress@yahoo.com_


	3. Fearful Madonna

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Chapter Two

Fearful Madonna

A soft breeze wove its way onto the sunny lunch balcony, flowing through the silken strands of Releena's long blonde hair. She sat primly on a velvet-lined chair at a small circular table, her hands clasped daintily together in her lap. There was a small, soft smile positioned just so on her delicate facial features. She would have been a living 'Mona Lisa', if not for the fact that her cerulean eyes were devoid of emotion. Only the wind gave any evidence that this girl was not a statue of a long-forgotten Madonna worthy of worship in ancient cathedrals. The other students sitting around her did not notice the statue amidst them even though they all seemed to throng about her with strange magnetism bordering on reverence. 

_My Cerulean-Eyed Madonna, time to wake from your reverie…_

Releena slowly lowered her eyes; her lashes laying softly on her lightly tanned skin. The familiar hum of noise returned to her and her smile broadened slightly. Her fingers flexed in her lap like a newborn child experiencing the wonder of movement for the first time. As her eyes opened, her look of oblivious euphoria faded to abject terror. 

'_Where in the hell am I?'_ Her mind screamed. Instantaneously, adrenaline began pumping into her veins and her heart started to pound away madly in her chest. The beautiful hum of noise she counted on shattered -- the loud chatter on the balcony distorting into the macabre hiss of cannibals dining upon the flesh of the innocent. She set her terrified gaze on the table before her. The white lace tablecloth was stained with blood flowing from the gold-rimmed china plates of the girls around her. Each plate was heaped with slabs of unmistakably fresh meat. As her eyes descended to her own plate she saw an entrecôte steak made undeniably of raw human flesh. 

"Oh God!" Releena cried out as one pale hand flew to her mouth, trying desperately to stop her body from purging itself as if she had greedily devoured the flesh before her and it lay digesting in the putrid acids of her stomach. But the true shock came as her eyes came to rest upon those seated at the table with her. Panic mingled frantically with disgust when she saw the hungry look in her former comrades' eyes. Their mouths, which turned simultaneously into evil smiles as they looked at Releena, were stained with the eternal lipstick of human blood. 

"No!" Releena screamed wildly, not waiting for a murderous glint to replace their hungry looks. Her hands locked under the table and pushed it upwards. The china plates flew into the air and shattered menacingly on the stone tiles of the balcony as the table flipped forward onto her monstrous lunch companions. She did not wait another moment to see if her efforts had harmed the cannibals – she fled the balcony through the open French doors behind her and into the school. She slammed the ornate doors shut, causing some of the panes of glass to crack threateningly as she frantically locked the doors. 

Releena screamed and jumped away from the doors in fright as the cannibals slammed their bodies against the glass violently, trying to pry the panes from the golden frame. Cerulean eyes wide with fear and a certain morbid fascination, Releena stood transfixed a foot away from the doors. Her blessed hum of noise was gone and she was left with the heavy, primeval panting of the cannibals – a sound laced with hunger and predatory instinct. Only when one of the cannibals' hands brutally shot through a pane did Releena snap to attention, her strange wonder washed away by the all too familiar wave of fright. But this time, the tsunami washed another emotion onto the shores of her psyche: anger. Her hands began to shake as the newfound emotion rose quickly within her. The need to fight whatever evil had overtaken her friends. A cannibal whose uniform was drenched in blood wrenched desperately at the door handle but could not break the lock.

The tide of Releena's anger soon began to ebb as the cannibals began a new assault on the doors by viciously pummeling their bodies against them. The blond-haired girl screamed as the glass began to shatter and the frames began to groan under the weight of the inhuman monsters.

"Stop, stop, stopstop, stopstopstop…!" She cried out, the one word becoming one flowing mantra as she backed frantically away from the doors, not taking her eyes off her assailants. The heel of Releena's Mary Jane like shoe caught on the rug's edge and she tumbled backwards onto the floor. Her palms hit the thin rug to keep herself from dashing her head upon the black marble tiles, sending sharp flashes of pain up through her wrists and into her shoulders. She cried out as if her worst fear had become her reality. Amid her cries her fellow schoolgirls were making quick work of the door barring their way. Their throaty growls became more excited with every groan and shatter of the glass. It would be moments before the door was no longer an issue.

As angry tears began to ravage Releena's face and a sense of helplessness smothered her like a heavy duvet, her attention was drawn to a thick light coming from the end of the hallway where a pair of heavy wooden doors stood closed about ten yards away from her. The gauzy white curtains from an unseen open window to the left of the heavy doors fluttered gracefully in and out of her vision. The light was thick there-it illuminated the airborne dust motes and made them seem to glitter faintly. With a sharp intake of breath Releena realized that her only way to safety was through those wooden doors. 

_If you hurry, you can make it. This is your only hope. This is your last chance to avoid the pain of being eaten alive by your friends, Releena…_

Releena heard the voice echoing from down the hallway. Suddenly, urgency began to undulate through her thin frame. Frantically, she pushed herself up off the rug, her wrists viciously complaining. She ignored that, and the final shatter of glass and metal hitting black marble. She cried out in desperation as she flung herself into a run down the hall, her Mary Jane's clacking loudly on the tiles. The sounds of pursuit rang in her ears and she tried furiously to black out their evil hissing but she could not. Terror filled her body to the very brim as she came closer to the doors. The evil things were right behind her.

Almost skidding to a halt before the doors, she flung the left door open and rushed inside. Just as she slammed the door shut, she saw one cannibal's soft brown eyes twisted evilly by desire and madness. The heavy door shut before her with a dull thud that echoed softly in the room behind her. As if all her energy had been sapped from her in that very moment, Releena fell to her knees and brought her hands to her face. Her sobs echoed just as softly around her as her terror quickly melted into grief. Suddenly, a comforting weight appeared on Releena's shoulder. The weeping girl parted her fingers and saw a hand resting consolingly yet firmly on her shoulder. The hand was tanned to almost a golden color and had long fingers with well kept, if not manicured, nails. 

"Don't cry Releena." The hand's owner said softly.

Releena's sobs quelled almost instantly and she turned her head upward to peer at the owner of the golden hand. But all she saw was a flash of sharp sapphire eyes before her world faded into stark whiteness.


End file.
